Having resettled in Nova Scotia in May, Charlotte and Isak Rydlund wasted no time in starting their company, PACTA, and placing it among the hottest new startups in Atlantic Canada.
The partners in life and business got the idea in July for an online product that helped manufacturers manage their contracts. They joined the entry-level phase of the Launch36 accelerator in September and last week were chosen as one of the seven companies (selected from a pool of 18) to pitch at the accelerator’s Demo Day in Fredericton.
They’re not slowing down, as they soon hope to beta-test the technology.
“The MVP (minimum viable product) will be developed in the next month and a half, and we have two customers lined up for closed beta in the new year,” said Charlotte Rydlund in an interview.
“We plan to launch in a year.”
PACTA helps medium-sized manufacturers manage contracts with customers, suppliers and others. The Rydlunds have experience in the sector — Charlotte, an Austrian-Canadian, has an MBA, and her Swedish husband is a lawyer — and understand the cost and time of managing contracts.
These manufacturers will have hundreds of contracts, and they have to ensure that all these documents comply with laws and regulations from various levels of government, as well as their customers’ requirements. Companies now manage them manually, often assembling teams to react to factors that could affect each contract. PACTA would proactively manage contracts automatically, saving time and money.
The system is designed to store and monitor the contracts. If there is a change in regulation, it will use a semantic search to go through the portfolio of contacts and highlight anything that needs attention. It automatically searches for events outside the company, such as recalls, and flags the user about what contracts, customers and suppliers are affected so the situation can be acted on faster and better. It also highlights when the company is obliged under contract to take certain actions, and when each contract must be renewed.
The Rydlunds are in talks with Dalhousie University on working together to produce natural language processing that can scan content and pull out key information automatically.
Developing this company has been a whirlwind experience for the pair, who met while studying at Dalhousie. About a year ago, they decided to return to Canada. They spent months travelling across the country with their dog, Fenwick (named for the Dal residence), working on their own non-profit, Canadive, encouraging scuba divers to clean up the beds of lakes and harbours.
After first settling in British Columbia, they decided the best place for them was the city where they met. They returned, came up with the idea for the business and were soon working out of the Volta Labs startup hub.
They’ve found the community a great place to start a business. So far, they have funded the project themselves, but Charlotte Rydlund said in her pitch last week they are looking for $250,000 in equity funding.
“In terms of the startup community, what we found was so much support, and Volta was there, and there is all this stuff that is now happening in Halifax,” said Charlotte, adding that the combination of Volta and Launch36 provided great mentorship.
“We’ve just found that this is the right place.”
Disclaimer: Entrevestor receives financial support from government agencies that support startup companies in Atlantic Canada. The sponsoring agencies play no role in determining which companies and individuals are featured in this column, nor do they review columns before they are published.
